City staff named three locations as “more ideal”

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Fremont officials have named 11 possible sites for a planned homeless
navigation center, and the city council will choose two or three sites it
deems best at a July 9 study session. City staff have recommended three
sites as “more ideal” based on criteria the council set last month,
including a portion of a city hall rear parking lot, outlined above. (Image
courtesy city of Fremont)

FREMONT — Fremont officials have revealed 11 possible sites for a planned homeless navigation center, and the City Council is scheduled to pare down the list to two or three at a July 9 study session.

About 45 homeless people would occupy the navigation center for up to six months at a time while case workers connect them with support services and help them find permanent housing.

City staff has deemed three of the sites “more ideal” than the other eight based on criteria the council set last month, including proximity to schools, food services and bus stops and transit. Ten of the sites are owned by the city.

Four sites were deemed “suitable” and the remaining four “below qualified.” Although staff doesn’t recommend the “below qualified” sites, the council will make the call.

The top three sites are a portion of the parking lot behind Fremont’s City Hall at 3300 Capitol Ave., a former Union Pacific Railroad parcel adjacent to Niles Town Plaza behind behind 37682-37822 Niles Blvd. and part of unused surplus property at 4178 Decoto Road next to Regan Nursery.

The City Hall parking lot location is nearly 1.3 acres, and its “most attractive features” include close proximity to services such as the Fremont Family Resource Center and Alameda County Veterans Services, the Tri-City Health Center and Washington Hospital, according to the staff report.

It is also within about a half-mile of the Fremont BART station and three bus stops and within a quarter-mile of food services, including two grocery stores. Washington High is the closest school, about six-tenths of a mile away.

The property adjacent to Niles Town Plaza “consists of a partially paved parking lot and graveled, vacant land.” It abuts a public parking lot along Niles Boulevard, railroad tracks to the north, and neighborhood commercial uses to the south and west.

The closest school to that site is Niles Elementary, about four-tenths of a mile away. The site is located in “the earthquake-induced liquefaction zone and a high fire hazard zone,” the report states, and is immediately adjacent to railroad tracks, “so tenants would be subject to intermittent train noise and vibration.”

It’s within walking distance of Mr. Mikey’s Country Store & Deli and a 7-Eleven store, and there are also “inexpensive sandwich shops and eateries in the area,” although the closest full-service grocery store is 2.3 miles away, the staff report says. Two bus stops are nearby.

The Decoto surplus property is a 1.3-acre portion of a nearly 10-acre site, most of which is leased to Regan Nursery.

“The site is adjacent to a vacant, uninhabitable home and a commercial strip mall to the north,” according to the staff report. Regan Nursery is on the east and south sides of the site, which is separated from nearby homes by Decoto Road and a flood channel. The closest school, Warwick Elementary, is about seven-tenths of a mile away.

It has “sufficient access” to food services, including a 7-Eleven about a half-mile away and two grocery stores approximately seven-tenths of a mile away. There are also six bus routes within a half-mile of the site.

The only privately-owned site that made the list — in the “suitable” category — is an unused part of Niles Discovery Church property at 36600 Niles Blvd.

When neighbors of the church learned the city was considering putting a navigation center there, significant debate ensued and they packed council meetings to lodge their objections, claiming it would endanger children walking to and from school. That site also is in a liquefaction zone and a high fire hazard severity zone, according to the staff report, and is adjacent to railroad tracks.

The other so-called “suitable” sites are an open space at the intersection of Mission Boulevard and Sullivan Underpass, the parking lot of the city’s maintenance center corporation yard at 42539 Osgood Road, and some excess property along Washington Boulevard near where an Irvington BART station someday might be built.

The four sites listed as “below qualified” are a large area on Auto Mall Parkway near the western edge of the city where a sports park is planned, another future park site on Palm Avenue near Interstate 680 and some new homes, a 9.3-acre parcel adjacent to the Mission Lakes neighborhood at the terminus of Bernard Drive off Isherwood Way; and an undeveloped parcel next to Arroyo Agua Caliente Park, about 100 feet from Weibel Elementary School.

The City Council’s study session is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. on July 9 in the council chambers at 3300 Capitol Ave.

Joseph Geha is a multimedia journalist covering Fremont, Milpitas, Union City, and Newark for the Bay Area News Group. His prior work has been seen in multiple Bay Area outlets, including SF Weekly, as well as on KQED and KLIV radio. He is a graduate of California State University, East Bay (Hayward), a Fremont native and a lifelong Oakland Athletics fan.

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